Singapore-based centralized cryptocurrency exchange Bitrue confirmed on its Twitter account that approximately $24.4 million worth of tokens were stolen.
$24.4 Million Token Stolen From Cryptocurrency Exchange Bitrue
“We detected a short-lived hacker attack on one of our wallets at 10:18 am on April 14, 2023,” the exchange tweeted, adding:
“We were able to address this issue quickly and prevent further theft of funds. We take this matter seriously and are currently investigating the situation.”
1/4: We have identified a brief exploit in one of our hot wallets on 07:18 (UTC), 14 April 2023. We were able to address this matter quickly and prevented the further exploit of funds. We take this matter seriously and are currently investigating the situation. pic.twitter.com/QioPHSB2DM
— Bitrue (@BitrueOfficial) April 14, 2023
The exchange announced that hackers were able to withdraw assets in Ethereum, QNT, GALA, SHIB, HOT and MATIC, but only a hot wallet that held less than 5% of their total funds was hacked.
“The rest of our wallets remain secure and have not been compromised,” he said.
Centralized cryptocurrency exchanges often use a combination of cold and hot wallets to manage user funds.
Cold wallets offline storage solutions offer greater security against cyber attacks. Internet-connected hot wallets allow for fast deposits and withdrawals, but are more vulnerable to attacks.
Tokens are currently held at an address starting with 0x181.
Hackers exchanged 8,858 Ethereums but hid most of the stolen SHIB and HOT tokens.
The Bitrue incident is the second major attack targeting centralized exchanges in recent days. Earlier this week, South Korean exchange GDAC lost nearly $13 million in crypto assets in a similar event.
Despite all this, Bitcoin continues to rise. At the time of this writing, Bitcoin was trading at $30,765.
*Not investment advice.
